This invention relates generally to disposable ink ribbon cartridges for printing mechanisms, and specifically to a disposable ribbon carrier for use with a stenograph reporting machine.
Conventional stenograph reporting machines employ an endless ribbon which is threaded along a feed path in an endless loop, the feed path including a printing station, a ribbon inking station and a pair of narrow stationary guide channels for providing a ribbon transport path from the inking station to the printing station and back. The inking station includes an ink spool having a central hub with a spongy material for retaining liquid ink, the upper wall of the spool having a plurality of ink filling apertures formed therein so that an operator may inject a fresh supply of ink into the spongy ink retaining material through the apertures using an eye dropper. The ink spool is rotatably received on a support post and is designed to be rotated by a conventional gear mechanism in order to transport the ribbon along the ribbon feed path past the printing station and back to the inking station, where fresh ink is transferred from the spongy material to the ink ribbon.
Such ribbons typically wear out after a certain maximum period of use and consequently must be replaced from time to time, the maximum life period of a ribbon depending upon the amount of time that the machine is actually operated. In order to assist in the ink transfer from the spongy spool material to the ribbon surface when the ink has been partially depleted, a pair of mechanically biased pressure rollers are typically located on either side of the ink spool in a pivotal arrangement. The pressure rollers are arranged to be alternately engaged with, or disengaged from, the outer surface of the ink ribbon when the reporting machine is in use, depending on the amount of ink in the spongy spool material.
In order to replace a worn out ribbon, the pressure rollers must be in the retracted position, the spool must be removed from the support post, and the ribbon must be extracted from the feed path. After removal of the old ribbon, a new ribbon is installed using the reverse technique.
The only practical way to remove and old ribbon from stenograph reporting machines of this type is to manually handle the ribbon, which is time consuming, messy and frequently exasperating. In many cases, these disadvantages are exacerbated by the fact that the machine operator is in the process of recording live testimony at trial or at a deposition proceeding, in which case the proceeding must stop until the ribbon can be replaced, all to the consternation of the participants. While the need has long existed for a solution to these problems, efforts to date to design a convenient ribbon replacement device for such machines have not met with success.